Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams – 17 July 2022

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams – 17 July 2022

::NATIONAL::

Govt. open to discuss all issues, no bar on usage of words in Parliament: Joshi

• In the wake of the latest controversy over restrictions on unparliamentary words, the government on Sunday said this is not the first time that such a list was brought out and that such a practice had been in existence since 1954.
• Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said no word has been barred from use in Parliament. “The Lok Sabha has been bringing out a list of unparliamentary words since 1954,” Joshi said after an all-party meeting on Sunday, ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament.
• The Opposition has been demanding a discussion on the Agnipath scheme, the government’s short-term recruitment plan for armed forces, which saw massive protests across the country by defence aspirants.
• Speaking on the matter, Joshi said the government is open to discuss all issues under the rules and procedures of Parliament.
• Stating that the government is “doing good work”, Joshi said the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is recognised not just by people within India, but also those abroad.
• “The opposition is trying to make issues out of non-issues as they do not have anything against the government,” Joshi told reporters after the all-party meet.
• On the Opposition criticism over the absence of the PM from the all-party meeting, the minister said, “Congress’ Jairam Ramesh raised the issue that the PM didn’t attend the meeting today. I want to tell him that before 2014, the PM never used to attend all-party meetings. How many times did Manmohan Singh ji attend the all-party meeting?” Joshi said.
• He also said that the government would hold an all-party meeting on the Sri Lanka situation which will be chaired by Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Biden’s fist-bump with Saudi crown prince seen as undermining rights pledges

• It took less than 24 hours in Saudi Arabia for US President Joe Biden to tarnish an image he has long cultivated: that of a fierce defender of human rights.
• The life of any politician is dotted with campaign pledges that ultimately backfire, and for Biden that list now includes his 2019 vow to make the desert kingdom a “pariah” over its human rights record.
• Similarly his solemn description, delivered last year on US Independence Day, of Washington’s role on the global stage: “We stand as a beacon to the world.”
• It was difficult for many to reconcile those words with the single-most searing image from Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as president: his fist-bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• US intelligence officials believe the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, “approved” the 2018 operation that led to the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
• Similarly his solemn description, delivered last year on US Independence Day, of Washington’s role on the global stage: “We stand as a beacon to the world.”
• It was difficult for many to reconcile those words with the single-most searing image from Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as president: his fist-bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
• US intelligence officials believe the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, “approved” the 2018 operation that led to the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
• Prior to Biden’s arrival in Jeddah, the White House took several measures to try to mitigate blowback from an encounter it knew was coming.
• Biden published a column in the Post explaining his reasons for making the trip, saying he wanted to “strengthen a strategic partnership” while insisting that “fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad”.
• At the start of the tour, which took him to Jerusalem and Bethlehem before Jeddah, his communications team said Biden would limit physical contact with those he met, citing coronavirus concerns.
• The travelling press corps wasn’t present for the scene. By the time they arrived at the palace in Jeddah, the two leaders had already gone inside.
• But soon the “fist-bump” was inescapable, broadcast on a seemingly constant loop by state media and Saudi government social media accounts.

::ECONOMY::

No benefits from consolidation of state-owned banks: Bank unions

• Fearing further shrinking of space for public sector financial institutions, bank unions of staff and officers will launch an agitation against the consolidation and privatisation of state-owned banks.
• The government must rethink on further consolidation before seeing the impact of previous rounds, Union leaders said.
• Ahead of the 53rd anniversary of bank nationalisation, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) will hit the streets from July 17 to protest against privatisation and consolidation of public sector banks (PSBs).
• Banks employees and officers’ organisations will take to Twitter on July 17, a day before Parliament’s monsoon session commences.
• They are opposing the idea of further consolidation for reasons like adverse effect on job opportunities, damage to customer services and issues with information technology integration. They feel that there is a need to review the working at existing banks, which went through merger and amalgamation.
• CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said, top officials at banks (where consolidation happened) are telling the government that everything is okay. That is all. Nobody is throwing light on the ground-level situation.
• Unions have flagged problems like closure of branches, IT integration not seamless and customers not being happy.
• There are so many issues. All complaints get the same standard reply “we are attending to it,” they said.
• Unions said there are definite problems with consolidation. The senior bankers do not have adequate expertise to run big-sized banks, union leaders said.
• Consolidation through mergers reduced the number of PSBs from 27 in 2016-2017 to 12 now.
• In the first significant exercise, State Bank of India (SBI) merged five subsidiaries and Bhartiya Mahila Bank with itself.
• This was followed by the merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda in 2019.
• Then there was a large-scale integration exercise in 2020 where Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India merged with Punjab National Bank. Also, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank folded into Union Bank and Syndicate Bank merged with Canara Bank.

Science and tech

US, Russian astronauts will swap seats on rockets again

• NASA astronauts will go back to riding Russian rockets under an agreement announced Friday, and Russian cosmonauts will catch lifts to the International Space Station with SpaceX beginning this fall.
• The agreement ensures that the space station will always have at least one American and Russian on board to keep both sides of the orbiting outpost running smoothly, according to NASA and Russian officials. The swap had long been in the works and was finalized despite tensions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, a sign of continuing Russia-U.S. cooperation in space.
• U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio will launch to the space station from Kazakhstan with two Russians in September. That same month, Russian cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, will join two Americans and one Japanese aboard a SpaceX rocket flying from Florida. Another crew swap will occur next spring.
• No money will exchange hands under the agreement, according to NASA.
• NASA astronauts routinely launched on Russian Soyuz rockets — for tens of millions of dollars apiece — until SpaceX started flying station crews from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2020. Russian cosmonauts rode to the space station on NASA’s shuttles back in the early 2000s. Before that, during the 1990s, astronauts and cosmonauts took turns flying on each other’s spacecraft to and from Russia’s Mir station.
• NASA said the agreement will “ensure continued safe operations” of the space station and protect those living on board. Seven people are up there right now: three Americans and one Italian who flew up with SpaceX and three Russians who arrived in a Soyuz.

::Sports::

PV Sindhu beats Wang Zhi Yi to claim her maiden Singapore Open, Super 500 title

• Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu won her third title this year as she defeated China’s Wang Zhi Yi 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 in an impressive performance at the Singapore Open final on Sunday. Sindhu became the second Indian women’s shuttler – and third Indian overall – to win the Singapore Open title. Saina Nehwal (2010) and B Sai Praneeth (2017) have earlier lifted the title in women’s and men’s singles events respectively.
• This was Sindhu’s first Super 500 title this year; she had earlier won the Syed Modi International and Swiss Open – both Super 300 titles – and an addition to her brimming cabinet which has a gold, two silver and two bronze medals from the World Championships besides two Olympic medals. This was Sindhu’s 18th career title.
• The title run will come as a huge boost for the 27-year-old, who will be leading the Indian charge at the Commonwealth Games, starting July 28 in Birmingham.
• The star India shuttler and former world champion put on a brilliant shift, as she collected 13 straight points to win the first game in merely 12 minutes; however, Wang made a bright comeback as she took only 18 minutes to run away with the second game. In the all-important decider, Sindhu held her nerve to seal a maiden title in Kallang.

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